Ricard_Persson wrote:There's been a lot of blow back from his comments last night. Its the main event in the news today. It seems the media is finally souring on him. This, along with the team not making the playoffs this year could be a real fire cracker. Bettman man have to step in at some point.

TSN reported rumours that the Senator office staff missed a pay cheque and that scouts are no longer being compensated for expenses. Even if those rumours aren't true, the fact that the Senators regional broadcaster has the courage to report them is a clear indication that there is blood in the water with Melnyk's future.

senate wrote:TSN reported rumours that the Senator office staff missed a pay cheque and that scouts are no longer being compensated for expenses. Even if those rumours aren't true, the fact that the Senators regional broadcaster has the courage to report them is a clear indication that there is blood in the water with Melnyk's future.

Nothing like that ever gets leaked unless someone wants it leaked. Gotta think Melynk has made some enemies in the front office.

It seems to be an all out assault on Melnyk from the usually tame and lame Ottawa media. You would think it would be Brennan going after him as it’s his shtick to play tough, but it’s really all of them. Like, the respected ones.

Either there’s blood in the water and guys on the inside know Melnyks days are numbered therefore they won’t feel any repercussion, or they’ve finally said enough is enough.

One things for sure, garrioch is still blowing Eugene. He hasn’t said anything negative yet. He doesn’t want to bite the hand that feeds him inside information. He’s Eugene’s personal speakerhorn when he needs to get something out...Bruce, you’ve got mail.

Ricard_Persson wrote:It seems to be an all out assault on Melnyk from the usually tame and lame Ottawa media. You would think it would be Brennan going after him as it’s his shtick to play tough, but it’s really all of them. Like, the respected ones.

Either there’s blood in the water and guys on the inside know Melnyks days are numbered therefore they won’t feel any repercussion, or they’ve finally said enough is enough.

One things for sure, garrioch is still blowing Eugene. He hasn’t said anything negative yet. He doesn’t want to bite the hand that feeds him inside information. He’s Eugene’s personal speakerhorn when he needs to get something out...Bruce, you’ve got mail.

People are going to be very disappointed in the trade the sends Karlsson packing. They’ll get a pick and a decent NHL player and that’s about it. The best they can hope for is to tie Ryan or Phaneuf to the deal.

FH2002 wrote:People are going to be very disappointed in the trade the sends Karlsson packing. They’ll get a pick and a decent NHL player and that’s about it. The best they can hope for is to tie Ryan or Phaneuf to the deal.

Agreed. If they trade 1 to 1.5 years of what is left on Karlsson's contract the return will be similar to what we got for 1 year of Jason Spezza. Hello Alex Chiasson and Nick Paul 2.0

It’s believed the RendesVouz group — a partnership between Senators’ owner Eugene Melnyk and John Ruddy of Trinity Developments — will then have six to 12 months to get the financing in place for the massive $3 billion development which could change the face of the city.

And Garrioch's Fox News-esque brown-nosing:

There is a sense in the community that this is a watershed moment for the ownership of the franchise and especially those who have refused to listen to Melnyk when he says he’ll never sell the team and it’s not for sale.

Though Melnyk stated last month on Parliament Hill he wasn’t sure a downtown arena was as important as everybody was making it out to be, it should be noted he was still in the middle of negotiations for a new rink at LeBreton and it makes no sense to show all your cards while trying to get a deal done.

Getting tough to read twitter. All of these sarcastic kids are always against every move. It’s become toxic. Everyone has an opinion but no one gives an answer. Just negativity.

Strange day for sure. I don’t mind the Harpur deal. Don’t love it, don’t hate it. It’s for minimum wage and you aren’t getting him for that on a two way. He’s a capable #6-7 guy that may get better, or at worse stays where he’s at and you walk from him in two years. Plus he can be traded. Anyone will take a 6 foot 7 kid if you want to move him. Twitter heartthrob Fred Claesson is really no better yet some twitter users probably have him penciled in at #3. Maybe he has a good chart somewhere. Claesson has no skill. About the same as Harpur. They’re an ok bottom pair if you have a coach to work with them to grow.

Strange with Anselmi walking out. Obviously because of Melnyk but with the Ottawa media, we’ll never know as they’re afraid to get their press pass slapped by gene. Maybe I’ll sign up to the athletic so that I can pay for some guy who isn’t a writer to punch out a piece in his rec room after he gets home from his 9 to 5 job.

Sorry, I’m edgy tonight.

Lastly the dorion extending is truly strange. I guess gene likes him as he’ll never say no to him. Really strange timing. Dorion has been ok. Not god awful but nothing to relieve my fear of what he’ll do next. It will be interesting to see. The Karlsson deal will be the big one. Unlike the twitter kids I don’t think Karlsson will leave, but I worry what will happen if you tie up 11-12 million a year on him. He’s declining, and I’m worried about the ankle. That will be a huge descision but I’d be shopping him with an extension to be signed with the team that trades him. I think the return would be fantastic and so far chabot has been as impressive as Karlsson was in his rough rookie season.

I'd disagree, as that is all speculation by dimwitted boerderz, but I do think trading Karlsson after July 1st with a prearranged extension is our best move. His ankle is more fragile than Ryan's hands, you can't give him what he wants knowing that. So we hope for Dahlin, and rebuild with him and Chabot (and Harpur).

I don't think he has established himself enough as an NHL regular to earn a one-way.

Didn't stop Boro from getting two of those.

Ricard_Persson wrote:Getting tough to read twitter. All of these sarcastic kids are always against every move. It’s become toxic. Everyone has an opinion but no one gives an answer. Just negativity.

Strange day for sure. I don’t mind the Harpur deal. Don’t love it, don’t hate it. It’s for minimum wage and you aren’t getting him for that on a two way. He’s a capable #6-7 guy that may get better, or at worse stays where he’s at and you walk from him in two years. Plus he can be traded. Anyone will take a 6 foot 7 kid if you want to move him. Twitter heartthrob Fred Claesson is really no better yet some twitter users probably have him penciled in at #3. Maybe he has a good chart somewhere. Claesson has no skill. About the same as Harpur. They’re an ok bottom pair if you have a coach to work with them to grow.

Strange with Anselmi walking out. Obviously because of Melnyk but with the Ottawa media, we’ll never know as they’re afraid to get their press pass slapped by gene. Maybe I’ll sign up to the athletic so that I can pay for some guy who isn’t a writer to punch out a piece in his rec room after he gets home from his 9 to 5 job.

Sorry, I’m edgy tonight.

Lastly the dorion extending is truly strange. I guess gene likes him as he’ll never say no to him. Really strange timing. Dorion has been ok. Not god awful but nothing to relieve my fear of what he’ll do next. It will be interesting to see. The Karlsson deal will be the big one. Unlike the twitter kids I don’t think Karlsson will leave, but I worry what will happen if you tie up 11-12 million a year on him. He’s declining, and I’m worried about the ankle. That will be a huge descision but I’d be shopping him with an extension to be signed with the team that trades him. I think the return would be fantastic and so far chabot has been as impressive as Karlsson was in his rough rookie season.

I don't mind the Harpur deal either. This is what teams do now - they try to lock up their young, fringy players for cheap contracts. Worst case scenario, depth; best case scenario, surplus value. Harpur himself is borderline - at times he's looked solid, other times he looks like he's from a different era. I don't like how we continue to stockpile low-skill left-shot defencemen, but we have bigger problems as well.

It's easy to speculate on Anselmi and the reasons for his departure. I'm inclined to wait and see what trickles out in the coming weeks. Between Melnyk and Dorion, it's hard to know what he was really doing, and that may be the exact reason he left.

But Dorion is another story. I understand Melnyk probably wants to lock up a compliant general, and I know as a GM you never turn down an extension, but I don't see what this signals other than another half decade of mediocrity. Dorion, both as GM and as Murray's right-hand man in his final years, has been involved in too many questionable trades and signings to entrust him with another rebuild.

So if with this in mind, I hope they don't tear it down yet. I hope they keep Karlsson, Duchene, Hoffman, Stone and company, try to lock the former two up, and see where things stand mid-season next year. I would, however, try to trim the fat around the roster - dealing Pageau, Smith, Burrows, Oduya, if possible Phaneuf and maybe Ceci. We still have, I think, a solid core of five or six skilled players, with Chabot primed to join that group. I wouldn't trust Dorion to undertake a full rebuild, and if we do rebuild I hope they do it from the ground up, over several years, rather than the fast-track attempt of a couple years ago.

Two things that need to be kept in mind. First, our goaltending has been shit this year and if Anderson is done, we have to sell on him before it's too late. With better goaltending, we are probably in the playoff hunt. If we are keeping Anderson, we have to find a way to dump Condon and bring in some more upside to the back-up position. This may mean dealing players with positive value alongside players with negative value like Condon, and so be it if that's our only option.

Second, it will be interesting to see how the free agent market plays out this year, especially watching how the MLB off-season is going. Is this finally the off-season where the GMs seem to collectively learn and correct their approach to free agency? The NHL system isn't quite as fucked up as MLB, but surely the same mistakes won't be repeated every July until the league just implodes some day.

MP wrote:I'd disagree, as that is all speculation by dimwitted boerderz, but I do think trading Karlsson after July 1st with a prearranged extension is our best move. His ankle is more fragile than Ryan's hands, you can't give him what he wants knowing that. So we hope for Dahlin, and rebuild with him and Chabot (and Harpur).

I’m not speculating based on what dimwits have to say.

I think trading Karlsson by the deadline is the smartest move because it gives the receiving team that extra playoff run with Karlsson, which should improve the return Ottawa gets.. unless of course Melnyk fucks it up somehow, which is a legitimate possibility.

Ricard_Persson wrote:Lastly the dorion extending is truly strange. I guess gene likes him as he’ll never say no to him. Really strange timing. Dorion has been ok. Not god awful but nothing to relieve my fear of what he’ll do next. It will be interesting to see. The Karlsson deal will be the big one. Unlike the twitter kids I don’t think Karlsson will leave, but I worry what will happen if you tie up 11-12 million a year on him. He’s declining, and I’m worried about the ankle. That will be a huge descision but I’d be shopping him with an extension to be signed with the team that trades him. I think the return would be fantastic and so far chabot has been as impressive as Karlsson was in his rough rookie season.

I really don't think Karlsson is on the decline. He's less than a year removed from playing the best hockey of his career. He had a career-threatening injury before, came back mediocre for awhile, then roared back to a Norris Trophy. Even if his mobility will never be quite what it was, he is too damn smart and too damn driven to really be in decline just yet. Chabot does look great, but to me it means we have a real opportunity in the next few seasons to have one of the best 1-2 punches on defense in the NHL. That is too exciting to pass up IMO.

I tend to agree with Hossa's post in general - the decline of Anderson is the big concern. Personally I think Craig has one more big season left in him before he's done. It is not surprising that he's had a down year, given his past record. But that's a tough call. I don't envy Dorion's position here.

Otherwise, lock up Stone and (although I hate to say it) Duchene. Try to move out some a lot of the middling pieces that might have value (Smith, Pageau, Ceci). Dump washed-up garbage like Burrows and Oduya.

If it doesn't work out, Brassard and Hoffman will still have trade value at next's season's trade deadline.

Of course if Karlsson truly hates Melnyk and refuses to re-sign, we hurt our return by trading him next season instead of now. So what. This is a top 5 player in the world. In the WORLD. You don't trade this guy unless you absolutely have to. One bad season and the fear of a so-so return do not - DO NOT - fucking constitute a justification for jumping the gun on moving him. The idea makes no sense to me at all.